The present disclosure generally relates to vapor based liquid purification, and more particularly, to a vapor based liquid purification system and process employing a vapor condenser and an evaporator.
There are numerous processes and systems utilized for vapor based purification of liquids. For example, distillation (i.e., evaporation) processes of liquid water generally include the collection of condensed steam produced by boiling water. Most contaminants do not vaporize and, therefore, do not pass to the condensate (also called distillate). With a properly designed still, removal of both organic and inorganic contaminants, including biological impurities and pyrogens, can be attained. Distillation generally involves a phase change which, when properly carried out, removes all impurities down to a range of 10 parts per trillion, thereby producing water of extremely high purity. Careful temperature monitoring is generally required to ensure purity and avoid contamination of the processed water.
On a small scale, such water distillation processes may simply comprise boiling of contaminated water at a controlled temperature, e.g., in a flask, followed by funneling the water vapor into a collection area. Such collection area may be a second flask maintained at a low temperature (e.g., 32° F.), for example. The colder temperatures serve to change the phase, of the water vapor to a liquid state.
Evaporation of contaminated water and recovery of uncontaminated water may also take place on larger scales. In one exemplary application, contaminated source water is contained within an evaporator in a vacuum flash evaporation system. Water vapor from the vacuum flash evaporation process is funneled to condensing and collection devices, and uncontaminated water is recovered in the collection device.
While vapor evaporation and recovery processes are generally known, there still remains a need for improvement in generating, handling, and condensing of the vapor.